The Manager, Alumni Engagement will be responsible for taking action on one of TFA-Charlotte’s most crucial priorities. Specifically, this leader will support the creation and execution a three-year plan to engage, inspire, develop, and mobilize the 500+ alumni that live and work in Charlotte. This incredible group of leaders includes multiple teachers of the year, nearly 20 school leaders (principals & assistant principals), social entrepreneurs, business leaders, non-profit and social sector leaders, and nearly 250 classroom educators. We are at a critical inflection point as a region with our largest leadership force ever and a unique opportunity to optimize our impact across two communities (Charlotte & the Piedmont Triad). The successful leader will support our methods to maximize our impact by leveraging the scale and diversity of our network to drive the learning, innovation, and collective leadership of our alumni. To achieve these goals, this leader will report to the Director, Alumni Strategy & Engagement, and together with the Network Strategy & Public Affairs team, will be charged with convening, connecting, celebrating, and retaining our alumni to accelerate our impact in Charlotte.
Additionally, the Manager of Alumni Engagement will support the Director of Alumni Strategy & Engagement in partnering with the Program Strategy team to support the 2ndyear corps member transition to alumni work alongside Leadership Coaches and set and execute strategies for ensuring alumni are engaged, feel connected to, and are invested in our work within the organization and across the broader community. The M, AE engages with members of the national alumni affairs team and laterally manages staff on the Charlotte regional team to execute specific projects that may arise throughout the year and are necessary to accomplish team goals and/or broader regional goals.
Alumni cultivation, outreach, and support (30%)
- Ensure alumni from the entire Charlotte region feel equally valued in our work
- Meeting externally with alumni. Meetings will be focused on understanding alumni motivations, talents, skills, and personal stories – with goals of accelerating alumni towards short and long-term career objectives, providing opportunities to connect with fellow alumni and volunteer opportunities, re-connecting alumni with the Teach For America movement, and motivating alumni to take meaningful action to end educational inequity – as both educators and education advocates
- Fostering the leadership of our alumni of color as unique advocates for change, utilizing opportunities like “The Collective,” and facilitating mentoring, community-building, and professional development opportunities
- Partner with our Alumni Advisory Board to help accomplish their mission and goals throughout the year
- Organizing and bringing key groups of alumni together to problem-solve and organically generate collective action solutions in important areas like education law, policy, parent advocacy, and more—specifically in impact clusters
Data Management/Research, Systems and Analysis (30%)
- Serve as our region’s alumni data expert, leading our team’s data management by curating and maintaining holistic data dashboards, one-pagers, data-sheets and other documents to track and organize alumni data, including entering notes from alumni meetings and updating records in database.
- Utilize data management systems to accurately report and track alumni progress toward career goals, engagement, monitor levels of involvement with Teach For America, and make data-based decisions regarding strategic priorities
- Utilize and proactively analyze data to inform and meet the alumni team’s strategic goals, i.e. analyzing the annual alumni survey data, both qualitative and quantitative, in order to increase our team’s effectiveness
- Analyze the local landscape to identify opportunities to grow alumni impact
- Respond to data requests from regional and national staff members and communicate accurate information regarding our alumni work in the Charlotte region
Communications/Outreach (20%)
- Manage the development of our monthly alumni e-newsletter
- Manage and create content for alumni communications and all relevant social media platforms
- Manage alumni meeting preparation: conduct research on alumni and corps members, perform outreach and schedule meetings
- Use alumni data to develop compelling region-specific marketing materials for internal and external audiences
- Draft high quality written communications and professionally respond to alumni with a high level of customer service
- Work with the Associate, Events and Manager, Graphic Design & Social Media to execute on strategy for annual events and campaigns with an entrepreneurial eye and approach, and to curate and manage logistics for alumni events
Project Management (10%)
- Manage our annual Alumni Survey Campaign
- Following the D, Alumni Strategy & Engagement’s vision, take a leadership role in executing alumni and second year corps member events
- Cross-manage other regional teams and team members to reach outcomes related to Alumni Affairs goals
- Organize and execute year-long and quarterly plans for engaging alumni volunteers throughout the year
- Connect with 2CMs to extend alumni support and connections to the alumni network during transition.
Fulfilling our Mission through Organizational and Regional Priorities (10%)
- Participate in shared regional commitments such as biweekly staff meetings, quarterly staff retreats, communicating regularly with incoming corps members, and interviewing applicants to Teach For America
- Meet compliance expectations for timesheet, expense report, and performance management documentation and submission
- Support and participate in regional events, requiring occasional evening and weekend work
- Exhibit a desire to learn and develop your cultural competence and understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusiveness
- An undeniable love and passionate for alumni. You want our alumni to not only be successful leaders but, more importantly, great people. You love them fiercely, see their full potential (even when they themselves doubt it) and see your job as doing whatever it takes to help them achieve their visions for their kids and themselves. You create the conditions across the region where we amplify the efforts of our alumni and accelerate them in a network strategy.
- A strategic thinker, planner, and operator. When you face a large problem, your first instinct is to break it down into smaller, manageable pieces and ruthlessly prioritize what is most important. You have the ability to identify key issues in complex educational, political and cultural dynamics, then chart out potential paths forward. Additionally, you are adept at informally managing a significant number of constituencies to execute against a set of priorities and goals. You develop systems to track progress, streamline communication and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the regional team’s execution.
- A conscious leader. You are always oriented towards social justice and equity. You have a pattern of modeling a set of values for others through self-reflection, curiosity and exploration, and an ability to connect and empathize with people. You have a history of operating in the spirit of our commitment to diversity and a strong understanding of the dynamics of race and class in America. You lead, and believe others must lead, through a culturally responsive lens and in a way that empowers staff, alumni, and corps members.
- A learner and iterator. You are hungry to learn and regularly seek out opportunities for feedback and growth. You see feedback as a path to strengthening your work, actively seek it out, and respond positively to it. You are open and collaborative and love working in a team environment to strengthen your practice. You view mistakes as a way to learn and are therefore eager to dissect them with peers to find a path for improvement.
- A strong culture builder. You believe that creating a thriving, inclusive, connected culture amongst a group is essential to the success of the group. You are welcoming, open-hearted, trusting and ensure everyone has a place in our community. You lead from a place of constant positive regard for our corps members and alumni, your peers, and colleagues.
- Obsessive about outcomes. You have an incredibly strong past record of results of achieving ambitious goals, specifically by laterally managing others, despite obstacles and have experience doing so in complex situations with diverse teams. Your decisions are data-driven. You also have experience in change management and are motivated to achieve extraordinary performance and cultural outcomes in the midst of change.
- Self-driven and highly mature. You demonstrate an uncommon level of personal responsibility for achieving results, define broadly what is within your control persevere in the face of challenges and you’re exceptionally optimistic about what is possible. You take initiative to do what it takes to achieve success, including sharing your successes and failures openly and fully with your team. You take initiative to generate creative solutions and ideas. You are obsessed with how we can better support our alumni to come together in communities to strengthen our efforts and are excited by the challenge that this is hard work with few examples of how to do successfully.
Prior Experience
- At least 2 years of work experience, with a track record of getting results while managing multiple projects
- Prior corps member experience preferred, but not required
Work Demands
- Ability to work an average of 50 hours per week, majority during business hours
- Occasional evening and weekend work required
- Occasional travel to in-person meetings in various US cities (2-3 times per year)
Skills
- Proven ability to build and leverage relationships and to operate effectively in an entrepreneurial environment
- Strong written and verbal communication, strategic-thinking, and operational skills
- Excellent organization, detail-orientation and project management skills